Monday, December 16, 1985 Daily Nebraskan
Faculty says advancement por
Departure of women worries professors
By Linda Hartmann
Staff Reporter
Some UNL faculty members, worried
by the recent loss of several women
faculty members and administrators,
said problems with attitudes, tenure
and reward for female faculty members
must be dealt with. .
Natalie Porter, assistant professor of
psychology and director of the Psycho
logical Consultation Center, said poor
attitudes toward women were a major
factor in her recent decision to leave
UNL to teach at the University of New
Mexico Medical Center.
Suzanne Brown, assistant to vice
chancellor for student affairs, said that
many women think their chances for
advancement at UNL are poor. Men may
feel the same way, she said.
Bob Furgason, vice chancellor for
academic affairs, said people are leav
ing UNL because of the strained finan
cial situation a problem not con
fined to women.
Helen Moore, associate professor of
sociology and chairwoman of Women's
Studies, said people in Women's Stu
dies have written several letters to
Furgason and to college deans because
they are concerned about the loss of
women faculty members to other
schools. Moore said women are being
actively recruited.
Studies on women and tenure at
UNL have shown that women are
slightly less likely to receive tenure
than men.
Tenure percentages
One study, conducted for the Chan
cellor's Commission on the Status of
Women, gave several conclusions:
O Although the percentage of
women receiving tenure has increased
from 39.1 percent in 1979 to 50.6 per
cent in 1983, the percentage of males
tenured was higher with 68.6 percent
in 1979 and 75.6 percent in 1983.
Tenured women constitute 8.2
percent of the UNL faculty. Tenured
men make up 63.6 percent of the
faculty. .
The colleges with the 'highest
percentage of tenured women are the
College of Home Economics, the
Teachers College and the libraries. In
no other college do women constitute
even 10 percent of tenured faculty.
Another study conducted for the
American Association of University
Professors stated that between 1973
and 1984 at UNL, only 62 percent of
women tenure-line faculty members
were tenured, compared to 81 percent
of the men.
"Taking into account experience
and years at UNL, this difference dim
inishes but does not disappear', the
study said. ,.
:(
Fewer women hired
Susan Welch, political science pro
fessor, contributed to the research for
the AAUP study. She said the jstudy
found no indication that women were
being discriminated against. ; Some
problem spots exist in the university,
she said, but she declined to identify
them.
Welch said 1984 was an exception to
the statistics. An unusual number of
women were denied tenure that year,
she said.
Furgason said the studies-'used
small samples and were difficult to
draw conclusions from. He said about
six years ago, fewer women were hired,
so it takes time for the number of
tenured women faculty to catch up.
As of spring 1984, the AAUP study
said slightly less than 15 percent of the
faculty members at the rank of assist
ant professor or above were women.
The study also said one reason women
may achieve tenure more slowly than
men is that they are hired at slightly
lower ranks than men.
Another reason: There are so few
women on campus that are called on to
serve on numerous committees, Porter
said. Serving on committee is impor
tant to make sure women's issues are
addressed, she said, but it keeps some
women from concentrating on things
they must do to be recommended for
tenure.
Ceiling effect'
Barbara Kerr left UNL this fall for a
position at Iowa State University. She
said UNL is generally ineffective in
rewarding faculty excellence both
monetarily and in recognition. Kerr
said the situation is worse for women.
Porter gave two reasons for this. She
said resources are so small that UNL
cannot afford to reward faculty
members, and the central administra
tion gives faculty little, decision-making
power. When everyone is fighting
for "a piece of the pie," she said,
women faculty members have a poor
chance of getting what they deserve.
Kerr said UNL has a kind of "ceiling
effect" for women.
"Women can go so high and no
higher," she said.
Brown said reality suggests that
such an effect exists at UNL She said
UNL has no women vice-chancellors
and only one women dean, although
women have been candidates for the
positions.
Furgason said there is no ceiling
effect at UNL. He said women have
opportunities to seek higher positions.
UNL must compete for and seek women
for the pool of applicants to higher
administration positions, and that the
administration thinks more women
need to be hired, he said.
Brown said there is "not much evi
dence that increasing the numbers of
women faculty members is a high prior
ity at UNL"
Porter said UNL must be committed
to hiring more women.
Shorts
Student Alumni
Student Alumni Association appli
cations will be available Jan. 20, 1986,
Campus Activities and Programs office
and at the Wick Alumni Center.
Applications are due Jan. 29, and
interviews will be the next week.' For
more information, call the Alumni As
sociation at 472-2841. 'Z
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The Nebraska Civil Liberties Union
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Dinner at the Nebraska Union Ballroom
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be state Sen. Ernie Chambers. The
dinner will be at 7:30 p.m., with a social,
hour at 6:30 p.m. The dinner is open to
all NCLU members. Tickets cost $30 a
person.
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